Promises
by Ferrene
Summary: Memories of a painful past. Reunion and reconciliation. Fate and the struggle to break free from it. Can one girl, given another chance, finally fulfill her deepest, most secret wish and save the one she thought she had lost so long ago? A "What if?" continuation to Ga-Rei: Zero.
1. Awakening

Awakening

 _A dream. In it, I stand in a rain-soaked square, the ground in tears all around me. I have been fighting someone. And as I look up, I see it. My sword piercing her gut. I am a murderer once again._

I woke up to the sound of silence. And a fiery hell within me.

At first, I couldn't move a muscle. It was all I could do to stay conscious. Mostly thanks to the constant torrent of pain rushing through every nerve in my body. Sometimes, even now, I still get flashes, small reminders of the intensity of that agony.

And when I eventually passed out, I dreamed once more.

 _A dense forest with daylight peeking through amid the trees._

 _The sounds of gunfire and battle in the distance._

A dream I couldn't quite place. It felt like a memory, but I felt disconnected from it, like I was watching it all through someone else's eyes. Yet those memories felt more painful than the agony I felt while awake. And so I attempted to remain conscious each time I awoke for as long as I could, just to escape those visions.

I couldn't tell exactly where I was at first, because I couldn't see. Either it was too dark, or my eyes refused to co-operate. Not long after I awakened, I managed to open my left eye slightly, and I could see around me a little. Dark shapes all around, and a strange light somewhere above my vision, emitting a small red blaze. Soon I realized where I was. Rested against the wall of a small cavern, propped up against the wall like some kind of stuffed animal. I might have shivered in the damp, cold air had I been able to.

After the exertion of forcing my eye open, I fell asleep once more. And I kept dreaming.

 _Our blades clashing in deadly duel. Her hesitation in killing me._

 _That Noriyuki coward interrupting our fight, giving her time to get herself back together._

The suffering lasted a long while. But as time went on, the suffering gradually lessened and I realized what the source of my physical pain was. My body healing from countless wounds. Wounds that should have killed me many times over.

And as my mind could finally concentrate on more than the agony, I began to remember what had caused those wounds. And I realized what the light I had been seeing by really was…and where it was.

 _The determination in her eyes as we faced each other for the last time as evening fell upon us._

My Sesshouseki, My Death Stone. The gemstone embedded in my forehead.

 _Her, pulling out the hidden blade that I failed to notice.  
_  
My Sesshouseki was the reason I was alive. It was what was healing my body of all its numerous wounds.  
 _  
Every detail of Her face, framed in moonlight, carved into my memory, as I realize she has won, and I am about to die._

I should be dead. I would have been, if not for the Stone.

All the faces of the dozens of people I've killed or injured beyond recovery came back to me in an instant, overwhelming me.

 _The dozens of Supernatural Disaster prevention soldiers. All six members of STS special division four. Sakuraba-san. The other Nabuu. Uncle Yuu. The elder Tsuchimiya. Cousin Mei._

All those lives. All that pain. Had I really done all that? Had that really…been me?

But I couldn't deny it. I remembered each face too clearly. Each slice of my sword. Every drop of blood spilled.

And my hands, as I looked down at them, soaked in red.

Or so it felt to me.

Then…I remembered _her_ , as I had known her before our duel to the death. My mind flooded with every moment I had had with her.

 _Her moving in with us after the death of her mother._ _Asking her about her favourite foods._ _Playing games with her and having fun, things she had never done before._

My one last treasure.

 _Getting her to expand her little world of training and spirit beasts._ _Holding her when she was scared or sad._ _Wiping away her tears when she cried._

The one thing in my life I had had left to protect.

 _All those times I had work out of the blue after I had promised her I'd be with her that evening._ _The first time I brought her with me to work. The first time we fought side by side._ _That time with the sudden Pocky game in the car._

What had happened to her after that last battle?  
 _  
Her, always by my side when I was stuck in the hospital, unable to move._

 _Tears streaming down her face. Tears I wished so badly I would not have been the cause of, unable to even wipe those tears from her eyes._

 _That picture of us on my phone._

If I was still alive, had the duel ended differently than I remembered? Was she even alive anymore? Had my last wish been granted by the Stone, or had it betrayed me after all? Had I protected her with what had seemed to be my death or had I failed in even that task?

I couldn't bear it. I tried to scream, but no sound came. I tried to get up and run, but my legs wouldn't move an inch. I was stuck. Stuck with the memories. Stuck in this body. Stuck with my guilt.

Because the Stone wouldn't let me have my end.

The terrifying outburst of feelings that these memories brought back crushed me utterly. All the guilt, all the sadness, all the hatred, all the despair, all the suffering, come back to wipe me out of existence.

Except I couldn't die. I was stuck there with it all, forced to bear it with no end in sight.

-

 **Post-story notes** : To all those who have had the opportunity to read parts of this story previously, I am sorry for the sudden, unintended, and rather long break/hiatus. I truly did not intend this, but simply haven't been able to get myself to write much of anything lately, in addition to having to recover from a planned surgery over most of this summer. Older readers who've read this chapter before might notice a change to the beginning of the story. Just a little something to let you all know that I do have much more planned for this story and will keep writing this story until it's finished. I now have a new way of getting/forcing myself to actually write occasionally, so hopefully I'll have another full chapter up again in a while, hopefully before I start university courses again in the autumn.

Again, I am sorry for the unexpected disappearance, and I hope you will still continue reading (and hopefully enjoying) this story.


	2. An Unwanted Visitor

An Unwanted Visitor

It took me a long time to be able to move a little more, and as I did, I realized what was leaning on the wall not far from my side. My sword, Shishio. I managed a weak smile at my find. Ranguren, my precious chimera Spirit Beast and only friend in this personal hell, bound to the sword as it was, was still by my side.

As soon as I could lift the sword a little, I tried to end my life.

And I found I could not.

Only then did I recall my previous attempts.

 _Me, attempting to cut my throat with Shishio in a dark alleyway. The Sesshouseki activating and preventing me from doing so: My sword met an invisible barrier just above my skin, rebounding off harmlessly in a shower of red sparks._

The Sesshouseki keeping me alive wasn't going to let such a thing happen this time either. I soon gave up, knowing what an exercise in futility it really was. I wasn't going to succeed at it, no matter how hard I tried to.

Soon after my suicide attempt, the Sesshouseki began to influence my mind again, though…it's influence felt weaker this time, compared to my memories of it. Part of me wondered why. It was easier to fight back against it now, though the amplified feeling of hate it brings with it was never far from my mind.

Soon after that, probably days later, based on my own sense of time, a voice spoke out in the dark cavern.

"So. I guess it wasn't a waste of my time to keep you here. You revived, after all, as I thought you might. Though…it did take longer than I thought…hmm…"

 _He_ had arrived. Somehow, my memories had returned of everything _except_ him by that point. But as soon as I laid eyes on him in the dim light of my Death Stone, I remembered it all. His part in my past.

"Ah, don't worry, I'm not here to hurt you. I'm just here to check on how my little _project_ is coming along, that's all."

How he caused it all. How he injured me to the point where I was stuck in a hospital bed, unable to move more than my head and right arm, and unable to make a single coherent sound. How he forced the Death Stone on me in such a way, saying he could save me from the agony of my life, most of which he himself had caused, directly as well as indirectly. How the Death Stone he gave me corrupted me and twisted my mind to the point I no longer had any qualms about killing anyone in my way.

I glared at him with all the hatred I could muster with my one good eye.

"Good. Keep that look in your eye, so full of hate. And then gather all your hatred. Focus it. Use it. And do me the favour of using that hatred to destroy this wretched world. Or enough of it, anyway."

Kazuhiro Mitogawa. I never did learn much about him, or his past, excepting his name and mention of where he found his Death Stone. The Vatican. I always did wonder how it managed to get all the way there, on the other side of the world, but I never did find out.

If I could have spat at him, I would have.

"Though…something is odd. Let's take a closer look, shall we?"

With that, he grabbed my jaw, lifted my face up and stared at the Sesshouseki on my forehead.

"Well, well, well. It looks like your resurrection had a greater cost than I thought…I guess it's to be expected. Such a thing must take a lot of power, after all. And it does explain why you have been taking such a very long, long time to heal…"

I could barely contain my hate for him. I almost tried to bite him.

"But this just won't do. This just won't do at all. I'll have to strengthen it, I think."

Strengthen it? What did he mean by that? A mild panic arose in my mind at his words, making me remember the power the Stone had had over my mind when it was fully activated just before my "death".

"Like this, you wouldn't have the power to kill anyone. And that just will not do, now will it?"

I grit my teeth at his words, realizing he planned for me to continue my murder spree.

"But I think you're going to do nicely for what I have planned."

With that, he released my jaw and stepped back to look at me from afar once more.

"But not just yet. You're not ready for it just yet, and the timing is still a little off. But soon. Just stay here and wait for me a bit, okay, Yomi?"

A smile full of wicked mirth. My lips curled into an involuntary snarl. Calling me by my first name like that, as if we were ever anything even remotely close to being friends, or anything more than bitter enemies. How I wanted to slice his grinning head off in that moment. Or tear him limb from limb. That would've been nice.

"Now, now, Yomi. It's not me you should be angry at. How about hating the world that has caused you so much misery, instead?"

With that, he vanished in a burst of blue butterflies with a knowing, mocking smile on that sickening face of his.


	3. A Breath of Fresh Air

A Breath of Fresh Air

My healing still took a long time after his "visit", stuck in that monotone, nearly empty cavern. It was a while before I could move properly, even something supposedly simple such as standing up, and a while longer before I could move with anything resembling human speed.

I also had to get used to using my muscles again, having apparently been in something resembling a coma for a long time before I awoke. Thanks to the Sesshouseki, I needed no sustenance during all this, as the power of the Stone was more than enough for such things.

When I could stand and felt strong enough to wield my sword a little, I tried to summon Ranguren. At first, I only had the strength to summon it for a moment or two before the strain become too great, but with effort, I managed to lengthen the duration each time I tried. I welcomed a friendly face for once, having spent such a long time alone, with only my agony as companion since my awakening. I clung to its fur for dear life, never wanting to let go again.

When I was strong enough to walk, I tried to leave, but I could find no exit in the cave, no matter how much I searched. It seemed _he_ intended to keep me trapped there, for some reason or other.

Eventually, a while after I had regained most of my full strength, _he_ appeared again. And this time I had a voice to scream at him with.

"Ah, up and about I see. Good."

"You…!"

The moment I heard his voice, I tried to slash him in half, only for him to turn into a cloud of blue butterflies and vanish.

"Oh, well that just won't do, now will it? It seems your stone is no longer enough to quite control you after your revival, eh?"

He reappeared right in front of me an instant later, wearing a crooked grin.

"I suppose I'll have to do something about that then, won't I?"

He struck towards me suddenly, holding what looked like another, smaller Sesshouseki. Before I could react, he grabbed my head and smashed the Stone into my forehead, at the location where my own Stone was. My Sesshouseki activated at his touch, and once more, all I could feel was the pain. The Stone he was holding turned into some kind of strange liquid form and seemed to merge with my own, intensifying the torment I was in even further. All I could do was scream in agony.

After a moment, the pain waned and he stepped back, having apparently done something to fuse the smaller Sesshouseki he had had with him into my own. I could already feel that my Stone had increased in power to a level similar to when I first got it.

"And all done. That should do it."

I wanted to try to take his head off, but the pain of the merging had knocked the fight out of me for a moment, and I collapsed, writhing on the floor in agony instead.

Yet another subtle grin. I was now going to be under the control of the Stone again, and thus, I would likely be unable to stop whatever it was he had planned for me. Once more, I would be his tool, to be used for whatever purpose he wished.

"Now then. I think it's about time I let you out of here."

With that, he waved his hand, and a wall of the cave vanished, revealing the exit I had been searching for in vain.

"There. Feel free to leave any time. You have work to do."

One final venomous laugh, and he was gone, as if he had never been there in the first place.

I presumed that him revealing the exit had something to do with his plans for me, so despite my restored Sesshouseki having healed all my remaining wounds rapidly after regaining its full power, I at first resisted leaving the cave, despite my desire to go outside.

However, eventually, the increasing pull of the Sesshouseki and my own need to find answers forced me outside.

The cool, free night air felt so good after the endless stuffiness of the cavern.

I breathed it in and felt my mind rejuvenated for a moment by the wind whispering about me.

After a moment of rare bliss, I decided to take a walk around the area, to try and figure out how long he had kept me in the cave, where exactly I was, and what had happened during my absence.

After walking a moment, I discovered I was in a forest somewhere nearer to the mountains. The same effect that had hidden the cave exit from me must have also hidden the entrance from anyone searching the area, so it would have been completely hidden here. Thus why nobody had found me during my imprisonment. How I got where I was I didn't know, however. Though it likely had something do with my captor.

When I got to a tiny hill slightly outside the cave, I could see more of my surroundings, and I saw the suburbs of Tokyo glittering some distance away. And so I summoned Ranguren, grabbed a hold of its fur and bounded towards the city, desperate to find some answers.

I soon found a small 24/7 convenience store in the suburbs and decided to take a look at a newspaper or something similar to discover what date it was. I unsummoned Ranguren so as not to cause too much of a stir - having enough control over my mind as to worry about such things. I went in and grabbed a newspaper, completely ignoring the man behind the counter who greeted me as I stepped in. I looked at the date on the front page and saw…

It had been approximately two years since my supposed death.


	4. Scarlet Street Graffiti, Part One

I stared at the date in disbelief. For how long, I'm no longer quite sure. I think I remember hearing the shopkeeper ask if I was okay, after I had been staring at the same date for a while. I grabbed some of the other newspapers in the store and frantically checked their dates as well. The same. There was no doubt. It had really been so long.

But the newspaper offered me no real answers, as I rifled through them in the shop, much to the annoyance of the shopkeeper. While I was going through them, he yelled something like "You can't do that!", at which I glanced in his general direction for a second with an intense glare. He cowered under my scowl and, noticing the sword in my hand, decided to let me continue. A wise decision. I would have hated to add another innocent to my list of victims.

I turned back to the papers. But as I looked through them, all I found were just the usual boring stories. Nothing about what had happened to the people I used to know. Nothing about _her_. Though, I suppose it did at least tell me that nothing much had happened lately, or at any rate, nothing that had caused much commotion.

But I would find no real answers there, and so, after thanking the shopkeeper for his consideration, causing him to inadvertently flinch in fear, I left the store and began to wander around town alone, searching the places I had used to live and work in for any evidence of the things I wanted to know.

First, I checked the places most likely to tell me whether the people I used to work with were still active, whether they might still come looking for me. The office for the Supernatural Disaster Countermeasures Division was my first stop. Considering the likelihood that they would have started searching for me again if they knew I was alive, I kept my distance, but from what little I could see, they indeed seemed to still be active. I would have to be wary of encountering them just yet, for fear of them imprisoning me before I had my answers.

My next stop was the Tsuchimiya family home. _Her_ home (Is it though?). It didn't look abandoned, at the very least. Much emptier than it used to be, but that's to be expected, considering she's the only living Tsuchimiya now. I didn't dare take a close look and confirm this however, as the house was likely guarded somehow, and I didn't want anyone knowing I had been there. Especially her.

Finally, I went to the place I used to call home. Out of the places I visited, this was the only one abandoned. Considering every member of the family who owned this house died, or seemed to, I wasn't the least bit surprised. Though…an unbearable sadness filled me at seeing my home so desolate and empty. (More?)

Even so, the abandoned nature of my home was a boon to me as well, in a way. This house I could enter. I could use it as a base while I searched for my answers. Here I could hide, in this mansion of memories. Here with all the ghosts of my past, as the ghost I had now become.

I wandered around the house for a moment, visiting all those rooms once so full of life, now empty and full of cobwebs. My uncle's office, where I used to come find him when I was younger, where I would always find him sitting at his desk…the room where so much death occurred. My own room, left almost untouched those two years since my disappearance, now with a thick layer of dust over all of my old things. And finally, _her_ room, now as empty as before she moved there. I can still clearly remember the day she moved in with us, a single picture of her dead mother her sole possession.

And then I remembered the time spent I here with _her_ , all the times she came over to my room to spend time with me, all the tears of joy and sadness that were shed here, and all the things we taught each other. And my mind filled with the desire to see her, or at least to find out if she was still alive, if I had succeeded in keeping her safe…from me.

And so I left my old house. I would find no answers here either. Only whispers of a past best left there.

Yet as I reached the street outside, my Death Stone began to resonate. _She_ was near. After all this time. Or at least another Stone's wielder was, if not her. In addition to…some other presence. A strange, almost calming presence. It almost succeeded in soothing my Sesshouseki as well. But only for a moment.

I dashed along the street as fast as I could, in my moment of freedom before the Stone took full control of my mind. But the street around me was empty, as far as I could see. As I had thought, it wouldn't be that easy. My mind would likely no longer be much my own by the time I found the other Stone's wielder.

And so, as I reached the end of the street, my Sesshouseki suddenly unleashed its full power, and blazing brilliantly, overwhelmed my mind instantly. I had just enough time to curse my bad luck before I fell to my knees in agony, an inferno igniting on my forehead. A moment later, I was almost fully under the control of the Stone, which forced me to head towards where I felt the presence of the other Stone and the strange presence near it.

* * *

The strange presence continued to attempt to influence me as I crept along, and soon began amplifying my feelings of hate towards its source. Still trying to calm me down even through my overwhelming rage and hate. In that moment, I resolved to at least be influenced by no more than one person's schemes, if I could help it. Calming influence or not, it was still an influence on my mind, and I would fight back against it. The person behind that odd presence…

…would not get out of this alive.

My legs moved where the Stone wanted me to go, and the presence of my two targets grew stronger and stronger as I moved along on swift, yet silent steps.

And as I turned yet another corner, there they were. Two people walking along the road a short distance in front of me. A man and a woman, it looked like. The presence of the other Sesshouseki felt like it was coming from the woman, while the strange calming presence seemed to emanate from the man.

The man was carrying a sword, one that seemed strangely familiar to my eyes, and looked like he had not noticed my presence. The woman, on the other hand, with long, brown hair that almost reminded me of someone, looked as if she was alarmed about something, looking around her with searching eyes.

I rushed at them, hatred filling every inch of my body. I decided to attack the man first, since he was the one carrying a weapon, and to remove that awful presence from my mind while I was at it. The woman could wait a moment.

Just before I struck my first blow, the woman suddenly yelled out "Behind you!" to the man walking beside her, causing him to turn around with his sword drawn just in time to block my blade. It seemed he had some measure of skill, at least, managing to keep his cool despite my sneak attack. I summoned Ranguren to watch my back and the woman while I dealt with the man, as my sneak attack had failed and this opponent felt like no pushover.

Though, as I soon realized, he severely lacked proper training, as his counter-attack was poorly executed, missed me badly, and would have been easy to parry even had it hit closer to its mark. Thus, my next attack easily forced him into a defensive posture, and I was able to push him back quite effectively. He was quite clearly no match for me.

The sword he used, now fully visible to me as I fought him, was indeed one familiar to me. It was one of the swords that _she_ had once carried, or very similar in appearance, at least. How poorly he wielded such a powerful weapon.

Having gained the advantage, I kept raining blows on the poor boy relentlessly, and it was all he could do to keep from being overwhelmed. Meanwhile, as I glanced behind me for a split second while I had him at my mercy, the woman he had been walking with seemed somewhat shocked at my sudden appearance, and still stood, motionless, where she had stopped when I first attacked. She seemed to be at a loss for words, for some reason.

A moment later, the boy, apparently starting to lose strength from defending against my continuous assault, attempted another counter-attack, this time more focused yet also more desperate than his last. He swung in a wide horizontal arc, seeking to overpower me and knock me into the wall on our left side.

Yet thanks to his reckless attack, he had left his defence wide open, and I thus took the opportunity to end the fight, as he had so graciously given me such a chance, for free, as it were. I kicked off the wall with my left foot, giving me the height I needed to jump over his arcing blade, and kicked his blade into the wall instead, using the flat edge now facing me. With his blade out of the way, I then proceeded to pin his sword-wielding hand to the wall and smash it against the surface using the pommel of my sword, eliciting a howl of pain. The blow broke his grip and caused him to drop the sword clattering onto the ground.

Now unarmed and defenceless, he attempted to back away from me, clearly realizing just how out-matched he was. Too late. I stepped forward faster than he could blink, and soon, my blade protruded a few inches through his back. He coughed up blood and then went limp, his life quickly spilt out onto the pavement. That strange, annoying presence lessened too, though didn't quite disappear entirely. I supposed I would have to make sure he was dead to make it vanish for good.

A moment later I heard a scream from behind me, presumably from the woman. I released the man from my sword, watching him fall to the ground, surrounded by a growing pool of scarlet.

Then the woman uttered something I couldn't quite make out, but that sounded oddly familiar, like something I had heard once before, uttered with the same voice. A deafening rattle of chains rumbled out from behind me and Ranguren seemed to tense up, as if expecting a further battle. I realized I might have underestimated the woman, that she possessed power far beyond that of the man who now lay near death at my feet.

Ranguren seemed to spring into action to defend me from something, and so I turned around to see what the fuss was about. I had just enough time to see Ranguren clash with a large white snake-like wolf-thing in the air above. The creature was bound with many large chains to a seal on the woman's back, likely the source of the deafening clang earlier. In the same instant, I also saw the woman pick up the blade the man had dropped and lunge towards me. I deflected her charge with ease however, and she carried on right past me to stand in between me and the man soaking in a pool of his own blood. Tears poured down her face even as she swung towards me again.

But just then I got a good look into her eyes, and she into mine. Her attack, and my parry in response to it, both stopped mid-air, as if frozen in time. And the whole world seemed to stop in its tracks for a moment. The Stone's influence on my mind evaporated as if banished to the hell it came from.

…It was _her_. Right in front of me. Alive after all. Even with her changed appearance, I knew it was her the moment I saw her face. I very nearly dropped my sword there and then in shock.

"Kagura."

* * *

 **Post-story notes** : So, here is finally the next chapter of this fic. I realize I may have said that I would try to finish the story by the end of summer, but as it turns out, this summer has been more draining and filled with many other things to draw my attention and use up my time than I thought at the start of it, and so I have found very little energy or time for writing. But even if, as is very likely, this story will continue past the end of summer, I will keep working on it as much as I am able will try to get it out as soon as possible. I hope you've enjoyed the story thus far and will keep enjoying it till the end. Much thanks to anyone reading (and especially to anyone who writes a review), and I'll try to get working on the next chapter as soon as I can!


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